Cemetery transcription by members of the Jacksonville
Area
Genealogical and Historical Society

The only known evidence of the former existence of this farm
cemetery
is two news stories in the Jacksonville Daily
Journals
of May 11 and 16, 1877. (The compilers of this book are indebted to
John Power of the Jacksonville Daily Journal who discovered the items
while
researching old newspapers for his column "A Glance Into The Past".)
The cemetery was situated in Section 28 of Township 15 N Range 10 W
near
the waterworks in the southeast part of Jacksonville. It is not
possible
to pinpoint the cemetery's site any closer. Land records at the Morgan
County Court House show that John Leeper and his wife, Fidillas, bought
land in Section 28 from William G. Abram as early as April 16, 1827. On
Oct. 13, 1828, John Leeper bought part of the southwest quarter of
Section
28 from Zachariah Gibbons.

* = No Stone Found
** = Soldier

Words in brackets [ ] or parenthesis ( )are not
on
stone.

Name

Birth

Death

Other or Notes

Veteran?

Donated By

Obit?

Allen, Jesse

(His body was moved to
Jacksonville East Cemetery in 1857.)

Allen, Sophia

Wife of Jesse Allen (Moved
to Jacksonville East Cemetery in 1857.)

Dale, Polly

(To learn more about her,
read the following news stories.)

Keeney, James

Leeper,

McCullough, Mrs.

McGinnis, Child

McKay, Timiora

Granddaughter of Jesse &
Sophia Allen (Moved in 1857.)

From the Jacksonville Daily Journal of
Friday,
May 11, 1877:
RAISING THE DEAD
A singular discovery of an Old Burying Ground in the Suburbs
A rather singular discovery was accidentally made on Tuesday last, in
the
southeast part of town, of what is supposed to be a part of an ancient
family burying ground. Not so very ancient, however, but one at least
dating
back to the early settlement of this section. It seems that a Mr.
Bickford
was plowing in a field, near the water works engine house, on what was
once the old Hitt farm, but now a part of the Chappel property, when
his
horse's legs dropped through the loose earth to his knees. His
curiosity
was at once excited to know the cause of the cavity in the ground, and
he proceeded at once to investigate. He was not long in reaching a
decayed
coffin. Securing help he succeeded in unearthing a complete skeleton of
a woman, which was but some two feet from the surface. The bones were
badly
decayed but the long flowing hair was found to be in a perfect state of
preservation, as was also, a large tortoise comb used in holding the
hair
to its place. The skeleton was conveyed to Jacksonville cemetery, and
there
interred, on Wednes- day. A few feet from where this discovery was
made,
a similar breaking through of the earth, under the hoofs of the horses,
occurred Wednesday, giving evidence that other bodies were underlying
the
surface and that the ground at that place had evidently been a
graveyard
in early times. Parties from this city went out yesterday to further
investigate
the matter, but as to the result of their labors we are not yet
advised.
It is stated and thought by some old settlers to be the burying ground
of a few families who came in the first settlement of the county. Among
them were the Bradshaws, Sparks, and other, though it is not definitely
known. It is to be hoped that the affair may be thoroughly investigated
and that the decaying bodies may be properly cared for and laid away in
a safer place than a cornfield, where sooner or later their bones will
be brought to the surface, and the disagreeable thought of their being
destroyed must be fully realized.

From the Jacksonville Journal of Wednesday, May 16, 1877:
The Plowed-Up Graves.
There does not seem to be much of a mystery about the finding of human
bones upon the Chappell farm, to which we referred last week. As we
supposed,
it was a neighborhood burying ground from which all the bodies were
never
removed when the city cemeteries were established. Now almost all the
relatives
of those interred there have followed them to the grave, but there are
those living here, Col. Geo. M. Changers, Mr. John Carson and others,
who
remember a graveyard there forty-five years ago. They say that the
first
to be buried there were two of the Leeper family (in whose barn the
original
First Presbyterian church was founded). The property was then owned by
them and is to this day sometimes called the Leeper farm. No one knows
that those bodies were ever removed. Jesse Allen and his wife Sophia,
also
were laid to rest there but their bodies were afterwards, in 1857,
removed,
together with that of their granddaughter, Timiora McKay, to
Jacksonville
cemetery. James Kenney, Mrs. McCullough, a McGinnis child and Polly
Dale
were also buried there and their bones never disturbed. The skeleton
unearthed
last week is thought to be that of the last named person.

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